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Hughes: Mk3 reunion will never materialise

Glenn Hughes; photo: Joe Lester, image courtesy of Frontiers RecordsGlenn Hughes recently spoke to Metal Express Radio on the occasion of his upcoming UK tour. Among other thins, he revealed how the much touted Mark 3 reunion never came to life:

There was talk by David of working with Ritchie Blackmore again but it didn`t quite work out. If it had, would you have been part of that?

I have to be really careful here but I can tell you what you already probably know. About 6 years ago David and I along with Jon Lord were talking about doing something together as Deep Purple Mark III. We were talking about who was going to call Ritchie. Jon said he`d call Ritchie but he couldn`t get through to him. Then Jon got sick and died so it didn`t happen. After Jon died me, David and Ritchie did try to get something together but it never materialised. I can`t say why it didn`t but it just didn`t happen. I can say to you now that I don`t think it`ll ever materialise. David is so busy and I am so busy that I can`t lend my face to something that is not real. Yes, it would be great if Mark III could get together but we`ve missed that opportunity now. I said my goodbyes to Jon Lord at the Albert Hall last year and that is it. I`m still friends with Ian Paice and everybody`s good but I can`t live in that past. It is something that has gone. I only want to wish Ritchie the very best in what he does and long may the legacy of Deep Purple live on.

Read more on Metal Express Radio.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.



14 Comments to “Hughes: Mk3 reunion will never materialise”:

  1. 1
    Michael Ertl says:

    Now he’s speaking out the obvious!

  2. 2
    Boswell's Johnson says:

    At best, MK III was the fourth-best line up. I won’t lose any sleep.

  3. 3
    MacGregor says:

    It was never going to happen, simple really! Certain people who say now they don’t want to live in the past, but that is exactly what they were hoping to do! Says it all really! Cheers.

  4. 4
    LRT says:

    It does live on… what’s the matter with you, man?!

  5. 5
    LRT says:

    It had something to do with you for two and a half debauched years, same with every other singer who passed through besides the one and only. You’re all two and a half years or so worth each. He outlives all of your years and contributions to DP, put together and over a decade on top of it as their front man. Getting DP math and quality challenged yet?

  6. 6
    Ron says:

    Not often I read or hear Glen speak about Purple that I don’t see him as self serving. This is the exception. Well done Mr Hughes.

  7. 7
    Raymond Verster says:

    Ritchie called his music “shoeshine” music. Dont see Ritchie using him ever again. Over sings.. still has a brilliant voice. Just over kill

  8. 8
    Rick Carlson says:

    Come on Glenn. If you got the call you would say yes in less than a second. You want us to believe you would rather play in front of a couple of hundred people in a club than be with a Mark III Deep Purple gig? Yeah right.

  9. 9
    Tommy H. says:

    After Jon’s passing the Mk III reunion shouldn’t happen. Although I was looking forward to a small series of reunion shows about 10 years ago, I understood that it couldn’t happen because of Ritchie. That’s ok. Apart from Jon’s passing which was a terrible shock to me and many, many others, I’m good with how things turned out. I think that moving on is a healthy development anyway.

    Glenn, you are blessed with great abilities and your voice is in fantastic condition. You shouldn’t care about what was in the past and move on. But please try to hold back a little because your tendency to oversing is annoying at times.

  10. 10
    Barfly says:

    There was a sacred number of 3 in the Purple line up Pacey Lord and Blackmore, take away one and it is something else. So purple can not be. The bands swansong was The battle rages on. Sorry to say. after that it hasn’t been one epic song at all.
    Glenn did a great job in Purple David to.
    But without the 3 no way.

  11. 11
    Rock Voorne says:

    The album BURN easily outshines anything DP post Blackmore did, Larry.

    You re talking like a stupid kid defending his hero that looks awful on stage nowadays(your words)

    Yeah, I know it sucks when others do remember your words. 🙂

    Btw, even Glenns solo output after 1990 easily outshines anything DP post Blackmore did.

    I m amazed Don Airey has the courage to pull this through.
    After all, he knows the qualities of the man in black and oughta know that this pales in comparison.
    But like Morse, appearantly he has no real pride.

    But hey, it pays the bills, who cares?

  12. 12
    Jeff Summers says:

    @ 11 Rock Vorne. Don has the best keyboard job in the world. He is completely respected by the whole band musically. And has complete musical freedom whilst stepping in to the shoes of one of his heroes. All other successful projects he has worked on he has been there to provide the musical colour. He’s playing to huge sell out audiences all around the world. “Pays the bills” that’s just a ludicrous and disrespectful statement 🙁

  13. 13
    Rock Voorne says:

    Mac Donalds is also catering for millions, maybe billions, is that a criteria that all those people coming to shows do that because of quality.

    On the other hand ………….

    Did you hear Blackers slod out in Birmingham? 😛

  14. 14
    Steve Hawker says:

    @10

    First I’ll offer “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming” as just one of the Mark Morse era. There are others.

    Second. Glenn Hughes was a prime driver behind the destruction of Deep Purple. Aside from the musical direction, his drug habit was too much to handle and Bolin made it worse.

    Of the albums he played on he got zero writing credit for Burn (8 songs originally). Even Paicey got a bunch, so you gotta ask what his contribution actually was apart from ridiculous screams when playing live.

    On Stormbringer he gets 6 credits from 9 but how many of those are classics? I’d say the title track only and Hughes had nothing to add there.

    On CTTB he gets 3 credits from 9 and again I’d suggest no classics there. Even the best song Gettin’ Tighter isn’t a song DP would have ever done since 1976.

    Hughes did a great job on the Highway Star cover (with Steve Vai and Chad Smith) but that wasn’t his song either.

    So what exactly is this great job that Hughes did for Purple? A few screams, a lot of drugs and below par songwriting do not a great contribution make. I honestly dread to think what a mess awesome songs like Burn and Mistreated would have been with Hughes writing the lyrics and then “delivering” them which is probably why they hired Coverdale.

    So I’m really wondering whether having Hughes involved in anything Purple would ever be worth it. He can’t stick to anything worthwhile for long. He says he doesnt want to live in the past – he doesn’t even want to live in the present either!

    I for one am delighted he’ll be nowhere near a Purple song unless it’s a track on a tribute album. Foxbat was way more than anyone should ever have to put up with.

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